With Lionsgate and Starz now heading their separate ways after one of the most amicable splits we’ve seen in decades, both of the new entities seem to be doing well. After Starz announced a swing to the black in its first solo revenue report of the year, Lionsgate too is seeing strong quarterly revenue upticks as it reports on its fiscal fourth quarter. To tell us more, we have Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A.
Net Profit for Q4
Lionsgate Studios reported $21.9M in net profit for the quarter. A far cry from their $47M loss in the same period of the prior year. Overall revenue was up 22%, closing at $1.06B, with the year-earlier having been $879.9M. Adjusted OIBDA rose (by 49%) to $138.3M, while adjusted earnings-per-share closed at 21 cents, up from last year’s 5c loss.
It was a busy quarter for the company, with several new theatrical releases as well as some key scripted titles hitting their services. With the new restructuring significantly reducing their exposure to linear TV, the Motion Picture unit’s profits rose by 28% to $526.4M, up 16% from the same quarter last year.
Small Drops in TV Production
While the TV Production arm still managed a solid $40.6M in profits, it saw a small decline from the same quarter in the previous year. That quarter, however, was defined by a major sell-off of library content to MGM+, so a drop was to be expected. With a new installment in the popular Hunger Games franchise already entering its media hype cycle, we’re seeing strong interest in the library titles from the same IP.
Part of the reason behind the separation of the two entities was to give both more flexibility to adapt to a changing media landscape, and with Starz also reporting positive results, it seems the new working model may well be working out for them both.
